[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] The difference between Manhattan and Brooklyn, or perhaps between Mr. Penny and Mr. Williams.
Jordan Williams, 20, allegedly pulled out a pocket knife and stabbed Devictor Ouedraogo , 36, on a northbound J train in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on June 12
The case echoes that of black homeless man Jordan Neely, 30, who was killed on the F-train on May 1 by 24-year-old ex-Marine Daniel Penny
However, unlike Penny, Williams will not face trial after the charges were dismissed by the Brooklyn District Attorney's office
#3
Never was the advice "If you can stay out of the hospital and the courthouse, you are living well" so on point.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/29/2023 8:50 Comments ||
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#4
On reading the headline, a Cynical Person might jump to the conclusion that race was somehow involved. Hard to believe after going through the Civil Rights era, but here we are.
Re Skid's link in #2: Surprising to see an article with that tone in the DM. Is GCHQ trying to foment a color revolution here in America?
#7
Pity we are devolving into a semi-segregationist cultural divide. The Chicago Jesus/Jojo Puppet Show and acolytes created the false narratives for political gain, but now find un-leashed feral youth a corrosive time-bomb. The crime-wave/dystopian landscape is hollowing out the urban core power-centers they need for their base tofeel their policies are working. Penny is a remnant of the rapidly evaporating, traditional American who has not yet fled places in America like NYC that are becoming all too much like Johannesburg.
[Yahoo] The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday struck down race-conscious student admissions programs currently used at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina in a sharp setback to affirmative action policies often used increase the number of Black, Hispanic and other underrepresented minority groups on campuses.
The justices ruled in favor of a group called Students for Fair Admissions, founded by anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum, in its appeal of lower court rulings upholding programs used at the two prestigious schools to foster a diverse student population.
The affirmative action cases represented the latest major rulings powered by the Supreme Court's conservative majority. The court in June 2022 overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that had legalized abortion nationwide and widened gun rights in a pair of landmark rulings.
Many institutions of higher education, corporations and military leaders have long backed affirmative action on campuses not simply to remedy racial inequity and exclusion in American life but to ensure a talent pool that can bring a range of perspectives to the workplace and U.S. armed forces ranks.
According to Harvard, around 40% of U.S. colleges and universities consider race in some fashion.
Harvard and UNC have said they use race as only one factor in a host of individualized evaluations for admission without quotas - permissible under previous Supreme Court precedents - and that curbing its consideration would cause a significant drop in enrollment of students from under-represented groups.
Critics, who have tried to topple these policies for decades, argue these policies are themselves discriminatory.
Many U.S. conservatives and Republican elected officials have argued that giving advantages to one race is unconstitutional regardless of the motivation or circumstances. Some have advanced the argument that remedial preferences are no longer needed because America has moved beyond racist policies of the past such as segregation and is becoming increasingly diverse.
The dispute presented the Supreme Court's conservative majority an opportunity to overturn its prior rulings allowing race-conscious admissions policies.
Blum's group in lawsuits filed in 2014 accused UNC of discriminating against white and Asian American applicants and Harvard of bias against Asian American applicants.
Students for Fair Admissions alleged that the adoption by UNC, a public university, of an admissions policy that is not race neutral violates the guarantee to equal protection of the law under the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment.
The group contended Harvard, a private university violated Title VI of a landmark federal law called the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination based on race, color or national origin under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.
Lower courts rejected the group's claims, prompting appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court asking the justices to overturn a key precedent holding that colleges could consider race as one factor in the admissions process because of the compelling interest of creating a diverse student body.
Affirmative action has withstood Supreme Court scrutiny for decades, most recently in a 2016 ruling involving a white student, backed by Blum, who sued the University of Texas after being rejected for admission.
The Supreme Court has shifted rightward since 2016 and now includes three justices who dissented in the University of Texas case and three new appointees by former Republican President Donald Trump.
The U.S. Supreme Court handed down a major ruling on affirmative action Thursday, rejecting the use of race as a factor in college admissions as a violation of the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.
In a 6-3 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that, "A benefit to a student who overcame racial discrimination, for example, must be tied to that student’s courage and determination."
"Or a benefit to a student whose heritage or culture motivated him or her to assume a leadership role or attain a particular goal must be tied to that student’s unique ability to contribute to the university. In other words, the student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual—not on the basis of race," the opinion reads.
"Many universities have for too long done just the opposite. And in doing so, they have concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice," the opinion states.
Justice Roberts was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the main dissent, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and in part by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who recused herself from the Harvard case due to her previous role on Harvard's Board of Overseers.
"We did not fight a civil war about oboe players," Roberts shot back. "We did fight a civil war to eliminate racial discrimination."
Many universities have argued that race-based admissions ensures that student bodies remain diverse, while critics such as the plaintiffs in the cases argue the policy discriminates against many qualified students based on race.
Students for Fair Admissions, a student activist group, brought cases against both Harvard and University of North Carolina. The group initially sued Harvard College in 2014 for violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which "prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any program or activity that receives Federal funds or other Federal financial assistance."
The complaint against Harvard alleged that the school's practices penalized Asian American students, and that they failed to employ race-neutral practices. The North Carolina case raised the issue of whether the university could reject the use of non-race-based practices without showing that they would bring down the school's academic quality or negatively impact the benefits gained from campus diversity.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit had ruled in Harvard's favor, upholding the outcome of a district court bench trial. The district court said that the evidence against Harvard was inconclusive and that "the observed discrimination" affected only a small pool of Asian American students. It ruled that SFFA did not have standing in the case.
In the UNC case, a federal district court ruled in the school's favor, saying that its admissions practices withstood strict scrutiny.
The affirmative action cases gave rise to one of the most spirited court debates to occur within the Supreme Court building this past term, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito grilling Harvard's lawyer, Seth Waxman.
Alito pressed Waxman on why it is that Asian American students regularly receive lower personal scores on their applications than other races. Waxman talked around the justice's questions, causing Alito to get frustrated with the lawyer.
"I still haven't heard any explanation for the disparity between the personal scores that are given to Asians," Alito said.
Waxman then got into a tense back-and-forth with Roberts. The justice asked why Waxman was downplaying race as a factor in admissions decisions, when according to Roberts it must have some impact, or else it would not be included.
Waxman admitted that race was decisive "for some highly qualified applicants," just like "being … an oboe player in a year in which the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra needs an oboe player."
"We did not fight a civil war about oboe players," Roberts shot back. "We did fight a civil war to eliminate racial discrimination."
#2
This all should have happened when Bakke was decided. The leftist media has for a while now been opining how the universities will go with business as usual, just as gun banners have done since Bruen.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/29/2023 10:37 Comments ||
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#3
Article did not mention the breakdown, which was 6-3, so not a straight conservative vote.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/29/2023 10:39 Comments ||
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#4
Theoretically, every university - and by extension, all businesses - should have to eliminate their DEI offices and troops immediately.
We know, of course, that won't happen...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/29/2023 10:54 Comments ||
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#5
Article did not mention the breakdown, which was 6-3
All the liberal justices dissented, and Chief Justice John G. Roberts joined with the conservative court members, writing for the majority.
#6
Right. So it will be argued, "The evil pub court overturned ..., leading to increased calls for court-packing.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/29/2023 11:41 Comments ||
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#7
It's amazing how people have lost the ability read -
Fourteenth Amendment
Section 1
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Everything else is Rube Goldberg logic. If we get another republic I expect its Constitution will unfortunately have to be the size of a small town phone book in order to explicitly tell each branch of government what it can not do.
#8
Universities will come up with a different function that yields the same result. The good news is they will continue to get the Oberlin College treatment. They will be a cash register for Asian Americans going forward. At some point, taking back education involves reducing the loan dollars per student availed from the Federal Government. The inflation of those amounts available have increased what colleges charge, the worthless curriculum and administration they have added, and the dead horse of debt that students are left carrying.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/29/2023 12:14 Comments ||
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#9
Big loophole in ruling so about 80 or 90% of the quota regime will remain
Posted by: Lord garth ||
06/29/2023 12:21 Comments ||
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#10
This was expected on the left. I think it was on Tuesday that I heard a discussion on my local NPR station — they assume the next step is for universities, etc to give the same special treatment by economic class instead of race, giving them the ability to point out that they are helping poor whites the same way they’re helping poor Blacks, and therefore not discriminating on the basis of race — the assumption being that neither Asian-Americans nor Jews are ever poor.
#11
The racket to tap the treasury for "education" will always find was to push increasingly worthless paper debt onto the witless. But the ability to get direct subsidies for a student population with a 44% recidivism rate is a new wrinkle.
Recidivism rates in the U.S. are some of the highest in the world with almost 44% of criminals released returning to prison within their first year out.
#12
So Harvard has to obey the law (Civil Rights Act of 1964--which means they've had 59 years to figure out what it means), just like the rest of us. They are very upset about it--I'll copy the message that Harvard alumni got just a few minutes ago:
A few hours ago, the Supreme Court issued its decision in our admissions case—a decision that carries weight not only for Harvard as an institution, but for many of us as individuals. Today is a hard day, and if you are feeling the gravity of that, I want you to know you’re not alone. Please take a moment to watch my message.
Posted by: Tom ||
06/29/2023 13:42 Comments ||
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U.S. — Democrats in mourning today after the Supreme Court ruled that racial discrimination in college admissions is unconstitutional. Left-wing experts say this will greatly hinder their God-given right to fight racism by being racist.
"By banning racism, the extremist right-wing Supreme Court has banned anti-racism," said Congresswoman AOC. "This will greatly hinder our ability to tinker with human behavior until everything looks like like we think it should in our infinitely wise minds. Minorities are NOTHING without us! How will they survive? This is a tragic day for America."
Experts say that this move will allow people to go to college based on their hard work and merit, rather than their skin color, finally realizing MLK's dream. They also estimated that by 2025 all college students in the country will be Asian.
#16
I mean, it's like the Constitution actually does say what it means and means what it says.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/29/2023 17:49 Comments ||
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#17
Democrats Devastated As Supreme Court Bans Racism
They were bummed when we freed their slaves, too. Suck it up.
Many moons ago, when affirmative action (aka "good racism") was becoming a thing, one of the Sunday news shows did a piece on affirmative action at the University of Michigan. It was pretty much what we've come to expect in such stories, but one bit stood out - an interview with a young black gal who had gotten into U of M on her own merits. She was incensed that she worked hard to get where she was but now people would now look at her and lump her in with the affirmative action admissions. An unfortunate but seemingly obvious result.
AA may pretend to be a noble goal, but it does not work because it focuses on the wrong end of the educational pipeline. If you want more students prepared for college, you need more student prepared for high school, which means you need to teach them to read and write in elementary school. Assuming you want the problem to go away and not just hang around as a cudgel to beat your political opponents.
[NYP] Madonna has been rushed to a New York City hospital after being found unresponsive, Page Six has exclusively revealed.
The pop icon, 64, was discovered at a residence on Saturday before being admitted to the ICU where she was intubated overnight.
Madonna’s longtime manager, Guy Oseary, shared on Instagram Wednesday that his client had "developed a serious bacterial infection which led to a several-day stay in the ICU."
The "Vogue" crooner is now out of the intensive care unit and recovering in a regular ward of the unidentified hospital.
The singer’s oldest daughter, Lordes Leon, 26, has reportedly been by her superstar mother’s bedside throughout the entire ordeal.
Nine KSS-III submarines are planned by the early 2030s under the program, which is divided into three batches of three submarines. https://t.co/71Tz0Rd1kO
— U.S. Naval Institute (@NavalInstitute) June 28, 2023
“How dare they pretend to be real Moslems like us!”
[Dawn] Police in several areas of Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... have been asked to restrain the Ahmadi community from sacrificing animals on Eidul Azha, it has emerged on Wednesday.
Continued on Page 49
[NYP] The mangled wreckage of the doomed Titan sub was seen for the first time Wednesday — 10 days after it imploded, killing all five passengers on a deep-sea tour of the Titanic.
Several large chunks of the submersible were hauled ashore, lifted by crane from the recovery ship after it docked in Canada.
Despite attempts to keep it covered, photos appeared to show mangled electronics — as well as the nose cone with its distinctive circular window, Canada Press said.
The debris was recovered by US-based Pelagic Research Services, which said its crew on the Horizon Arctic has been "working around the clock now for ten days" through "physical and mental challenges."
#2
As the Oceangate story unwinds, it's beginning, more and more, to sound like one of the old Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland "Andy Hardy" movies. "Hey, let's put on a show!"
The CEO has demonstrated that being wealthy and arrogant will only take you so far...
Posted by: ed in texas ||
06/29/2023 8:40 Comments ||
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#4
wealthy and arrogant will only take you so far...
Most billionaires in the modern era are one hit wonders made possible by a system they are all personally sworn to destroy.
The idea that they know anything outside of their lottery luck arrival is indeed arrogance.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/29/2023 8:49 Comments ||
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#5
If these Billionaires want a fling with danger...
I'll charge them only $50K to experience walking Metro-Atlanta Buckhead/North Ave., or the 500 block of Broad Street or East Boundary in Augusta Ga. from 12mid to 3am on a Friday or Saturday night with Kevlar clothing optional.
#10
Someone will open up submarine tours of the Titan wreck within two years. People used to be entertained by professional daredevils tightrope walking or barrel riding Niagara Falls. Now rich people can do the dumb stuff themselves. At a lower price point rubes like us can jump out of planes Velcro’d to someone who knows what they are doing. There are plenty of trails, mountains, and sunsets available without making yourself an expensive national tragedy.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/29/2023 13:55 Comments ||
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[HOT AIR] In the world of all things wonderful and green, the biggest push has been to hasten the demise of the internal combustion engine and the chirpiest assessments have been how EVs will save the planet.
From California to New York state to the federal government and internationally, the powers that be have been on a tear to declare the ICE deadly and obsolete, while the EV in all its incarnations is the future.
Perhaps the bloom is coming off of that overly optimistic and premature rose.
Some EV business models aren’t motoring along as well as previously anticipated, even with subsidies and buyer incentives.
#1
Normal wear and tear on tires is also accelerated due to the extra weight and friction road heat. Expect higher 'disposal' fees and new tire prices.
#2
A really good EV would have its battery integral to the entire chassis and body (use that weight to add crash resistance) and easily refreshable at the individual storage cell level.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/29/2023 8:53 Comments ||
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#3
Is this the 'law of unintended consequences' kicking in?
#4
Incurious blowhards who are below the elevator gag in the first Fantastic 4 movie.
Even if it all magically came true with the availability of materials, the manufacturing, the grid, backed-up bridges will start falling down.
A really good EV would have its battery integral to the entire chassis and body (use that weight to add crash resistance) and easily refreshable at the individual storage cell level.
And turn a simple fender bender into a serious situation?
My favorite EV fire suppression video, other than the guy with the bike who throws a pan of water on the burn, is the one where chief ordered a dump truck full of sand and buried the EV.
[USNI] The Coast Guard has potentially recovered the remains of the five passengers who died aboard the Titan submersible after it imploded while attempting to visit the wreck of RMS Titanic.
The Coast Guard on Wednesday took possession of debris and evidence from the seafloor belonging to Titan after M/V Horizon Arctic, the ship that deployed a remotely operated vehicle that found pieces of the submersible, arrived in St. Johns, Newfoundland, according to a news release from the Coast Guard.
Horizon Arctic‘s ROV was able to recover pieces of Titan, including its tail cone, which allowed the Coast Guard to conclude that the submersible likely imploded. The Navy’s underwater detection systems also picked up a noise that was likely the Titan implosion. Read the rest at the link
At around 12,500 ft. what does an exposed human body look like under about 375 +/-sea level surface atmospheres , the equivalent of 5,500 LBS force psi ?
At around 12,500 ft. what does an exposed human body look like under about 375 +/-sea level surface atmospheres , the equivalent of 5,500 LBS force psi ?
Posted by: NN2N1 2023-06-29 05:56
[SearchEngineJournal] The Wall Street Journal reports that 80% of YouTube ads violate terms of service, potentially costing Google billions in refunds.
Research reveals that 80% of YouTube ads across the web violate Google's terms of service.
Advertisers have reportedly been overcharged, and potential refunds could result in a financial loss for Google.
These findings bring to light serious concerns with possible far-reaching consequences. Read the rest at the link
#3
Google is and always has been a protection racket.
Don't want your stuff online? Pay us.
Don't want pictures of your front door online? Pay us.
It's gone from "information wants to be free" to "we own all this information, and we'll decide what you get to see".
Posted by: ed in texas ||
06/29/2023 15:31 Comments ||
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[USNI] The Navy on Tuesday formally took delivery of the first Flight III Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer from HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding.
Jack H. Lucas (DDG-125) delivered to the Navy after wrapping up acceptance trials in May in the Gulf of Mexico.
“On DDG-125, with the new combat system, new Spy-6 radar, we had four trials at sea to demonstrate the requirements of the ship and the mission capability of the ship,” George Nungesser, the vice president of program management for Ingalls, told reporters Tuesday.
Jack H. Lucas is the first ship that will field Raytheon’s new AN/SPY-6 Air and Missile Defense Radar, as well as an updated Aegis Combat System. While an O-5 commands the older Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, an O-6 will command the Flight IIIs, which will assume the air defense mission in carrier strike groups once the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers the Navy phase out of the fleet.
The destroyer will remain at the shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., for approximately 120 days after delivery, allowing the crew to move onto the ship in a few weeks as Ingalls finishes work on trial cards from the Navy, Nungesser said by phone to reporters at the annual Modern Day Marine conference.
#1
Whilean O-5 commands the older Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, an O-6 will command the Flight IIIs,
*Sigh* Fewer ships requires higher ranking officers ...right. That is what we need -- more admirals.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Virgin Galactic customers who have splashed out hundreds of thousands of dollars on a trip to space are finally set to be rewarded.
The firm, founded by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, will perform its first commercial flight, 'Galactic 01', tomorrow.
Ahead of the maiden voyage, the four passengers have been through a rigorous training programme at Virgin Galactic's 'astronaut school.'
Behind-the-scenes footage shows the crew preparing for the mission, including test flights, safety training and a flight walkthrough.
The flight is set to take off at 10:30 ET (15:30 BST) tomorrow.
The 'Galactic 01' flight will see four passengers board VSS Unity for a 90-minute flight to conduct a series of 13 suborbital science experiments.
Galactic 01 will be followed by a second commercial spaceflight, 'Galactic 02,' in early August 2023, with monthly spaceflights expected thereafter.
Virgin Galactic completed its final test flight in May when it sent a crew of four company employees more than 50 miles above the surface of the Earth.
Virgin Galactic has sold about 800 tickets for its space trip over the past decade, with the initial batch going for $200,000 (£156,000) each, but they now cost $450,000 (£350,000) per person.
Virgin Galactic's launch method is different from SpaceX and Blue Origin, which perform dramatic vertical rocket launches much like NASA.
Virgin Galactic uses a carrier aircraft called White Knight Two with two pilots who take off from a runway and then gain high altitude.
When at just under 10 miles high (50,000 feet), White Knight Two releases its rocket-powered crewed spaceplane VSS Unity, which ignites its rocket motor and soars even higher.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Yahoo] The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday struck down race-conscious student admissions programs currently used at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina in a sharp setback to 
[NYP] Madonna has been rushed to a New York City hospital after being found unresponsive, Page Six has exclusively revealed.
